Ontario’s Big City Mayors meet with provincial leaders and call for investment in infrastructure

Ontario’s Big City Mayors meet with provincial leaders and call for urgent investment in infrastructure

Kitchener Councillor Scott Davey, on behalf of Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, and Ontario's Big City Mayors Caucus (OBCM) met with provincial leaders over two days to discuss priorities for Ontario’s cities.  Topics discussed included infrastructure, housing, homelessness and collaboration across all orders of government.

“It is evident that our priorities, such as housing and the infrastructure needed to enable housing, are shared priorities of all party leaders,” said City of Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic. “Kitchener is doing its part to accelerate housing, including streamlining permit approvals and developing new zoning and development solutions to build housing faster.”

The province recently announced in Budget 2024, Building a Better Ontario, new initiatives to support housing including a new $1 billion Municipal Infrastructure Fund and enhancements to the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund. OBCM is looking to the provincial government to further its commitment to building strong cities by working together with municipalities and the federal government to develop a new long-term funding model and growth framework.

Recently, the cities of Toronto and Ottawa have received a “new deal” commitment of funding to support large scale capital projects and investments in transit, community safety and shelters and other social programs. With the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, OBCM has renewed their call for the province to sit down with municipalities to review the provincial-municipal fiscal framework.

"As fast-growing municipalities, we bear major costs for maintenance and growth of community infrastructure and services, yet municipalities do not have the available financial tools that grow with the economy, build housing and support our social needs like mental health and homelessness,” said Kitchener Councillor Scott Davey. “We can’t keep solving 21st century challenges with a 19th century fiscal framework that provides us with 8 to 12 cents of every tax dollar collected.”

The City of Kitchener stands ready to continue working with all orders of government to ensure that our community has the infrastructure needed to enable housing and for a strong Kitchener and a stronger Ontario.

Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) includes mayors of 29 single and lower-tier cities with a population of 100,000 or more, who collectively represent nearly 70 percent of Ontario’s population. OBCM advocates for issues and policies important to Ontario’s largest cities.

For more information, please contact:

Shannon Weber, Chief of Staff
City of Kitchener
519-741-2200 ext. 7795
Shannon.weber@kitchener.ca